Folksonomies: Tidying up Tags?

Folksonomies: Tidying up Tags?
A folksonomy is a type of distributed classification system. It is usually created by a group of individuals, typically the resource users. Users add tags to online items, such as images, videos, bookmarks and text. These tags are then shared and sometimes refined. A general review of social bookmarking tools, one popular use area of folksonomies, was given in the April edition of D-Lib [1]. In the article the authors elaborate on the approach taken by social classification systems and the motivators behind tagging. They write, “…tags are just one kind of metadata and are not a replacement for formal classification systems such as Dublin Core, MODS, etc…. Rather, they are a supplemental means to organise information and order search results.”